Jordan Spieth is one of 16 male golfers to have pulled out of the Rio Olympics, and his decision will make it all the harder to argue the sport should continue in the Games beyond 2020. Photograph: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

Rightly or otherwise, the widespread sense prevails that mega-wealthy male golfers regarded the Olympics as something they could readily do without

Jordan Spieth is one of 16 male golfers to have pulled out of the Rio Olympics, and his decision will make it all the harder to argue the sport should continue in the Games beyond 2020. Photograph: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images